Georgia notified Penn State of its interest in 19 players
ATHENS — As it turns out, Georgia informed Penn State of its interest in 19 of the Nittany Lions’ football players. That’s according to a letter dated July 23 and sent to Penn State’s associate athletic director for compliance Matt Stolberg by UGA director of compliance Steve Flippen. The letter was provided to The AJC in compliance with an open records request.
The Bulldogs informed the Big Ten school of their “intent to contact” the student-athletes, then listed the following players in alphabetical order:
Adrian Amos, Deion Barnes, Justin Brown, DaQuan Davis, Jake Fagnano, Khairi Fortt, Jordan Hill, Gerald Hidges, DeQuan Jones, Eugene Lewis, Angelo Mangiro, Pate Massaro, Michael Mauti, Jamil Pollard, Silas Redd, Donovan Smith, Matt Stankiewitch, Trevor Williams and Michael Zordich.
Georgia had to send a written request to remain in compliance with NCAA bylaw 13.1.1.3.3. That rule states:
“An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution’s athletics interests shall not make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA or NAIA four-year collegiate institution, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining the written permission of the first institution’s athletics director or an athletics administrator designated by the athletics director) to do so, regardless of who makes the initial contact. If permission is not granted, the second institution shall not encourage the transfer and the institution shall not provide athletically related financial assistance to the student-athlete until the student-athlete has attended the second institution for one academic year. If permission is granted to contact the student-athlete, all applicable NCAA recruiting rules apply.”
Georgia coach Mark Richt abruptly pulled the Bulldogs out of the Penn State transfer sweepstakes this past Friday. Just four days after telling reporters at a big alumni gathering in Atlanta that Georgia was scouring the Nittany Lions’ depth chart, Richt issued a statement saying it would no longer be pursuing any Penn State players.
There’s hardly been a mass exodus. Tim Buckley, a backup redshirt freshman safety, became the first Penn State player to bolt Monday when he announced he would be transferring to North Carolina State. On Tuesday, news broke that running back Silas Redd, who rushed for more than 1,200 yards as a sophomore last season, is transferring to Southern Cal. Special NCAA rules stipulate that Penn State players must transfer before practicing with the current team.
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135 comments Add your comment
Rev. Richt
July 31st, 2012
10:36 pm
I loves me some Jesus!
Can I get an amen?
Butter Bean Floyd
July 31st, 2012
10:42 pm
If you wanna get HIGH , Get HIGH on Jesus!
Monroe's First Redcoat
July 31st, 2012
10:44 pm
Not a dan thing wrong with rolling out the welcome mat. I’d be willing to bet that nearly every other D-I coach in the country did the same. Come on down, boys! The weather is FIIIINE!!!!!!!
Ralph
July 31st, 2012
10:46 pm
Wow at Richt circling the carcass…..Seems kinda classless for such a respectable coach….From a Clemson fan…..
kingdaddy
July 31st, 2012
11:13 pm
i dont think we have any players on probation from the law.
question is…. how many players will ugay lose before the first game to some kind of run in with the law.
next time we have a robbery on campus we may have to roadblock the road to athens and see who we catch.
Flying Tigrers
July 31st, 2012
11:13 pm
Classy, real classy there uga. Mr. Hypocrite strikes again. Even with all 19 he would waste the talent and still not get to the big game. All you can say is real classy…lmao, oney a real tool and a joke of a university would pull such a sorry stunt. He Richt you out recruiting the Crowell:s, the Washuns or claeb Kings…insn’t that whats put you in this mess….what a joke of a so called school…join the pitiful acc…maybe you could win something over there
Bo in North Carolina
July 31st, 2012
11:14 pm
Chip, thanks.
Really?
July 31st, 2012
11:48 pm
What’s up with the moron pretending to be me at 4:53? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but those comments are uncalled for and shameful.
Really?
August 1st, 2012
12:25 am
Flattery???? I am a loser sorry mom,,,
zbulldawg
August 1st, 2012
12:48 am
These players & colleges have every right to do what ever they feel is right for them ! These players where recruited under false pretencies from Penn St. It is their right to have a chance to play for a championship National exposure & a honest insituition. UGA wasn’t the only one to make a move. What do you expect these schools or players to do? They don’t have much time to make a chioce in the matter.Penn St. MESSED up BIG time so Get over it & let every body move on. Be real people.
GT87
August 1st, 2012
3:41 am
All CMR did was protect the interest of the program for which he is responsible. If only the people at PSU had done as well..
To all the slanderers on each side:
Neither of our schools are with out issues, past and present. Neither program is where they want to be.
The W-L record is very one sided the past decade. But as fans we got to watch some great ball games in this time period. Several that could have gone either way. Including the Jacket win.
I hate losing. I detest losing to ya’ll. But I saw some exciting games played well amid great college football atmosphere. Yet on these blogs there is more mud slinging than football discussion. Sounds too much like Washington DC.
I hope some Thanksgiving weekend we both enter the day undefeated. May never happen. But that would be a fun day.
Each camp has a lot to be proud of and a lot to improve upon.
Crowell's Shooting Range
August 1st, 2012
7:00 am
Aw shoot
tardawg
August 1st, 2012
7:20 am
What a waste of newsprint, had to use the info act to get the info, I’m sure a lot of D-1 schools looked and inquired none of their newspaper thought it necessary to purse the story.
GT = 10 time loser to Mark Richt
August 1st, 2012
7:25 am
Another rehashed story
David
August 1st, 2012
7:34 am
It’s clear that Richt backed off when he realized that none of the players actually had a criminal record and therefore wouldn’t fit in with his program.
Fair n Balanced
August 1st, 2012
7:37 am
This does not sound right….does not pass the smell test.
Buckeye
August 1st, 2012
7:43 am
Now that would have been a dream team.
You dogs wanted 19 fat slow BIG 10 players?
Really?
Butter Bean Floyd
August 1st, 2012
7:54 am
Too bad that NONE of the Penn State players wanted to come to UGA and thats the real truth! I love how the sheeple uga fans try to spin this.
GameTime
August 1st, 2012
8:14 am
Comments from Dawg supporters which see no wrong in what Richt did are pretty stupid but not unexpected. They show no appreciation for the situation. Here you have a group of student athletes who’ve had their world turned upside down but the vast majority are rallying together to commit to PSU and to make the best of a bad situation. Then you have vultures like Lane Kiffin and Mark Richt making plans to INITIATE contact with some of these athletes. Richt (or more likely someone else in the program) realized this was not the proper approach and a statement was quickly issued distancing UGA from the whole situation. Being receptive to talk with a player who makes contact is one thing. Initiating contact with athletes in this scenario is just bad. Of course this is lost on die hard doggie fans who just have no clue on issues involving morals. But I guess one can’t be too critical. The leader of the Dawg Nation (Richt) had to have someone tell him it wasn’t the right thing to do!!
NoSpin
August 1st, 2012
8:17 am
They’d rather stay at PSU than transfer to UGA? Guess they realize UGA has as much chance of a bowl game as PSU the next 4 years.
Gator Mike
August 1st, 2012
9:11 am
All, I am sure you will agree that it is good that the season will start at the end of this month. We all need to get away from this Penn State and Paterno tragedy. Think about the real victims who sandusky abused. The Penn State situation is tragic from every angle.
The NCAA set the poaching drill in motion, and all schools had a right to play if they chose to do so. Team chemistry is very important to all of our schools; therefore, I applaud coaches who did not play in the poaching game (my opinion). I am not a Penn State fan, but I am hoping that Coach O’Brien and his team does well this year. I wish everyone the best this season.
Go Gators!
Lane Kiffen beat Richt Again!
August 1st, 2012
9:30 am
Hmmmm, St. Mark went O fer 19 including losing Silas Redd to So Cal…LOL!
Lame Lane whipped Richt 45-19 a few years ago…”"[Kiffin] basically made a promise to us that we wouldn’t lose to them anymore, forever or until he leaves,” Volunteers safety Eric Berry said. “He’s not going to let Georgia beat us.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Tennessee_Volunteers_football_team
USC TROJANS FAN
August 1st, 2012
10:35 am
so you same sec fans calling usc dirty and slimy for recruiting just 1 player, what the heck is georgia for recruiting 19 players. HYPOCRITES! FIGHT ON USC!
jalex49
August 1st, 2012
10:44 am
Who really cares? It’s time to play foot ball… Georgia is not doing any thing different than other programs.
Heals
August 1st, 2012
10:47 am
Really? NCAA is a joke! Aren’t they supposed to be about preventing competitive advantage on the football field, or any other athletic field for that matter?
By giving taker schools a one-year hiatus from complying with the 85-man roster, doesn’t that create a competitive advantage for any school that takes a PSU player? Okay, how bout this……next year, that same taker school now has to “make room” for the PSU player who transferred and stays because next year UGA or any other taker school would then have to conform to NCAA regulations and scholarship maximums. Now, what they’ve (NCAA) has done is taken away an educational opportunity from a young man because of their zeal to punish PSU. Nice job NCAA. Tragic situation at PSU, but all NCAA did was create a bigger mess! And if you think other big programs will somehow fall in line because of what happened to PSU, spell evian backwards.
Heals
August 1st, 2012
11:05 am
Again, watching all these vultures circle the carcass of PSU reminds me of what Emmert said when he levied the sanctions against PSU – “We have to change the culture of college athletics.”
You’ve got Richt, who couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag cold-calling PSU players (19 of them and of whom NONE bought into UGA), you had six of Illinois’ coaches recruiting PSU players in parking lots around State College, Pa, and you have USC absconding with arguable one of the best RB’s in the east, while his own program is on probation!
So much for culture change ladies and gentlement. NCAA has only proven to me and several others just how out of touch and irrelevent they truly are today. By the way, how’s that investigation of Auburn and Cam Newton going NCAA? NCAA is concerned with academics in college sports? Explain how Okalahoma State can graduate a player who’s illiterate?
I am now the biggest USC fan if only so USC can rub into the NCAA’s and Emmert’s face come January. Maybe then they’ll be more people who will advocate for the dissolution of the NCAA and their hypocrisy.
Tito93
August 1st, 2012
11:22 am
@Heals
You hit it right on the mark! I could not write it any better. NCAA is controlled by idiots.
CB Greg Reid
August 1st, 2012
11:56 am
I heard y’all was looking for playas…holla at ya boy!!
fuzzybee
August 1st, 2012
12:23 pm
Any good ol’ Georgia boy should know you don’t tell your kinfolk you are goin’ huntin’ and then come back without some meat strapped to the hood of your Ford F-150.
Mudcatjoe
August 1st, 2012
12:36 pm
Those players were to smart to be interested in UGA! Richt is a lowlife.
And Tampa Gator, post again when your team can boast 4 National Championships!!!
Charles
August 1st, 2012
12:52 pm
Oh my word… HOW COULD THIS BE ? A mighty SEC team wants players from the lowly BIG TEN ????
What is the world coming to ?
Those boys up there are all SLOW, UNATHLETIC and just want to run Wall Street one day …
Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Charles Woodson, Eddie George… they could never have played in the SEC… Right ?
peter rice
August 1st, 2012
3:53 pm
Good to see the NCAA being fair about punishment to Penn. State. In theory one school could sign 40 players from Penn State who would be eligible to play immediately. Therefore, NCAA would let one school have a total of 85 scholarships plus the additional 40 from Penn State which equates to 125 on scholarships as none of the Penn State Players would count toward the original 85 scholarship. Suppose Georgia Tech signed the 40. Would this be fair to UG? Don’t think so.
charliedawg
August 1st, 2012
4:13 pm
Did anyone but me notice the change in headline from “Dogs Contacted 19 PSU Players” to “Georgia notified Penn State of its interest in 19 players”. A little bit of a difference……I guess the folks at the urinal constipation couldn’t prove that UGA actually contacted all 19 players. At least CMR did not pull a Lame Kitten and give a recruiting speech for the need of a tailback during an interview…he went thru the school.
WhyTheNorthWon
August 2nd, 2012
9:00 am
Scumbags.
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[...] Georgia contacted Penn State about 19 players [...]